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> If the person reading the code doesn't quickly understand what's going on from the name or finds the name confusing, the name is poor and should be changed.
by layer8 9mo ago
> If the person reading the code doesn't quickly understand what's going on from the name or finds the name confusing, the name is poor and should be changed.
I used to think that way, but in many nontrivial circumstances, every conceivable name will be a mismatch for where some person is coming from, and not be self-evident for their mental model. Even the same person, over a longer time span. There is often a gap to bridge from name to meaning, and a comment isn’t the worst way to bridge it.
- hinkley 9mo agoI find the thesaurus helps a lot with this. Actually more than just naming, because often a word in the synonym list will stand out as a more accurate representation of the concept you’re trying to add to the code, in a way that reveals subtasks that will substantially increase the value of the feature. In short I use it as a form of rubber ducking. No it’s not like this word, it’s more like that one, but most of all like this one.